Venus Williams and Petra Kvitova Continue Remarkable Runs to U.S. Open Showdown

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Venus Williams defeated Carla Suárez Navarro of Spain on Sunday to reach the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open in New York.CreditBen Solomon for The New York Times

By Ben Rothenberg

Sept. 4, 2017

Twenty years after making her breakthrough at the United States Open, Venus Williams continues to thrive on the sport’s biggest stages.

Williams, 37, reached the quarterfinals at the Open for the 12th time with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 victory over Carla Suárez Navarro on Sunday at Arthur Ashe Stadium, continuing her most consistent year at major events in more than a decade.

Williams has 33 match victories this year, and 19 have come at the four major tournaments. She finished runner-up at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, and reached the fourth round of the French Open.

The is the first time Williams has reached the quarterfinals at consecutive Grand Slam events since 2010.

Her reliable runs are especially impressive given the current depth in the women’s game, compared with early in her career, when wins in the opening rounds were often routine.

“Now I’ll play players who I’ve never seen or know their name, and you can’t let up one point,” Williams said.

Suárez Navarro, a tenacious Spaniard with a fluid one-handed backhand, was a known quantity for Williams, having won three of their previous seven matches.

“I was happy about this match because she wasn’t seeded here, but obviously, she knows how to play,” the ninth-seeded Williams said of Suárez Navarro. “She’s played deep in the majors. She’s won big titles. This was my best match, so I was happy to see my level rise as the tournament is continuing, because I know my opponents are going to be better; I need to be better. To be able to be out there and execute things that I wanted, it was a good feeling.”

Williams’s opponent in Tuesday’s quarterfinals is No. 13-seeded Petra Kvitova, who is also having a remarkable season — for a significantly different reason.

Kvitova is a two-time Wimbledon champion, but her ability to continue to contend for major titles — or even play at all — had been in doubt after a vicious knife attack during a home invasion in December severely damaged her left hand. After surgery and months of rehabilitation, Kvitova returned to the tour in May at the French Open.

She earned her biggest win of her comeback on Sunday, ousting third-seeded Garbiñe Muguruza, 7-6 (3), 6-3. It was her first win over a top-10 player.

“I didn’t really play the kind of great players so far in the season when I came back,” Kvitova said. “It was something really special for me.”

Muguruza, the reigning Wimbledon champion, led by 4-1 in the first set but struggled to match Kvitova’s power on crucial points. Muguruza was limited to seven winners compared with Kvitova’s 24. Kvitova especially dominated on the forehand, hitting 12 such winners to just two for Muguruza.

Despite nine double faults, Kvitova made a difference with her serves, winning 78 percent of points on her first serve compared with Muguruza’s 56 percent.

Kvitova, who said early in her comeback that she initially she surprised herself with her ability to still hit great shots, said she had now settled into a familiar comfort with her rediscovered abilities.

”I’m not thinking like that anymore,” she said. “I think maybe it’s a bad sign sometimes, that I should still be more appreciative than I am, probably. But sometimes I just really feel that the touch is there, the strength, the aggressive kind of game plan of it is there, which I’m really, really appreciative for that.

“Took me while to find it. Luckily I find it in a Grand Slam, which is nice.”

The loss notwithstanding, Muguruza remained upbeat about her summer, which included a title in the Cincinnati event.

“Even though today didn’t go my way, I didn’t feel I did something wrong out there,” she said. “I think she played very good. We all know she can play, finding the incredible shots and serve. Over all, it’s a very good tournament for me. Not only a tournament, but the summer in general. I feel very happy. This match is just a match, but I’m happy with all the period that I’ve been playing.”

Muguruza still has a chance to claim the No. 1 ranking after this tournament. If fourth-seeded Elina Svitolina fails to reach the semifinals and top-seeded Karolina Pliskova fails to reach the final, the top spot will be Muguruza’s for the first time.

“We’ll see,” Muguruza said, smiling. “I’ll keep on eye now on the scores, but that’s it.”

Kvitova has won four of her previous five matches against Williams. Their most recent match, a third-round encounter at Wimbledon in 2014 that Kvitova won, 5-7, 7-6 (2), 7-5, is considered one of the best women’s matches of the past decade. Kvitova went on to win that tournament but has not reached a major semifinal since.

She is in the Grand Slam quarterfinals for the first time since the 2015 United States Open. At her first two majors after returning from her hand injury, Kvitova did not advance past the second round.

“What she’s gone through is unimaginable, unreasonable,” Williams said. “The world we live in is just shocking. So for her, I think to be playing well is such a blessing. To be able to come out here and do what she needs to do, to clear her head, it’s such a beautiful thing to see.”

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page D4 of the New York edition with the headline: Williams and Kvitova Continue Remarkable Runs to a Showdown. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe